Head’s up for any of our readers heading to France for the end of the year. As of now, travelers should be on notice for a potential strike by cabin crew members at Air France. They are planning to go on strike between December 22, 2022, through January 2nd, 2023.
French Aviation Unions
Two of the aviation unions in France, Union des Navigants de L’Aviation Civile, and Syndicat Navigants du Groupe Air France have threatened to strike during the holidays over a dispute on employee working conditions.
After a collective agreement between staff and management was not renegotiated this fall the unions filed a strike notice. Without defining the new collective agreement the airline decides the staff’s work schedules.
Passenger To Cabin Crew Ratio
According to a report by LeMonde, one of the major issues the unions are disputing is the ratio of cabin crew to passengers. As of now, it’s one flight attendant for every 48 passengers, but Air France wants to raise the number to 51 passengers. Since the start of the fall Air France has dropped their number to 50 passengers.
Another dispute that is on the table are the workers salaries. If the new ratio is to be accepted, then crew members would want more pay for the responsibility. Although almost 38,000 employees did receive a 5% pay increase and 1,000 bonus in September.
Air France has acknowledged that there is a “strike notice” but negotiations are due to continue past January 2023.